The China Dolls
by Close To The Truth
Summary: The 11th Doctor and Amy Pond visit the China of the future, but something isn't quite right.
1. Chapter 1

**The China Dolls**

**Chapter One**

"China!"

Amy Pond stepped out of the TARDIS and glanced up at the Doctor, who was rubbing his hands together, a half crazed grin shining on his pale face.

He was standing just in front of the TARDIS, which had been parked on the side walk of a rather normal looking street. Behind the Doctor, Amy could see a long row of warehouses stretching in either direction. Plain, simple and boring.

Slightly confused, Amy was about to step out to join the doctor and ask why they were here when a scent hit her nose. It was salty, cold almost, and Amy instantly knew what it was. The sea! It only took a short walk around the police box to see she was correct. Stretching out behind them was the ocean. Well, something like the ocean anyway, because Amy was sure she had never seen the ocean such an electric blue. In fact, it was so blue that it hurt to look at it for too long. Averting her eyes, she jumped suddenly as she noticed the Doctor standing next to her, still grinning his head off.

"China!" he exclaimed again, waving his arms up and down to exaggerate his point, "Well.... technically in the language of the first creatures to set foot on this earth it's called _Hadkkoag ewkndka asjdhkj, _but since you probably can't pronounce that I think we'll stick to the human version. Anyway, China! What a beautiful country. Full of art, religion, industry and thousands of different ethic groups. Did you know that China invented a dancing robot? Imagine that! A dancing robot! I love humans! You know what I don't like through? The Great Wall of China. I mean I love the structure, but the name? Come on, try to be at least a bit original! It's the same with the Egyptian Pyramids or the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Imagine if the Great Wall of China was called Harold? Or Gertrude? I've always liked the name Wane! It's –"

"Are you just going to go on like that till I interrupt you?" Amy asked raising her eyebrows.

" – called Unam. Imagine naming your ship Unam! What an ugly name! I swear the moment I –"

Amy sighed and looked out into the ocean briefly again. She could hear the Doctor blabbering on in the background. In fact, he seemed to be blabbering more than usual, and he had been very pushy on the way here. It was almost as if something was wrong, but he would tell her if something was up, wouldn't he?

Trying to keep the thought out of her head, she turned the Doctor and asked forcefully, "Why is the sea such an electric blue?"

" – and that is why you should never fly into a vortex without checking all the safety measures. Wait! What? The sea? Why shouldn't it be electric blue? Do you have something against that colour?"

"Well, no, but it's not meant to be that colour is it? I mean, isn't the sea usually much less....bright."

The Doctor frowned slightly and raised a hand to scratch his head.

"Well, it can be yellow, black, grey...... I think once I saw it turn rainbow."

Amy leaned against the barrier that separated them from the sea and sighed again.

"Are we even on earth?"

"Of course we're on earth! Haven't you been listening to a thing I've been saying – "

"What year is it?"

"Well, I was aiming for 3694, but seeing as the sea colouring is a bit off, I think it's around 3392 instead. Which is rather a coincidence, because I seem to remember this is the year when that big plague hit Europe, but don't worry we should be perfectly safe in China....speaking of safe in China, is it just me or is this place pretty deserted. I mean at this time in history with over a google people living on earth you would think there would be someone around."

Amy turned away from the sea at the Doctor's words and scanned the warehouses. He was right. There was nothing. Not a car. Not a hovercraft or whatever people used these days. Not a soul. Wait. Something had flashed in the corner of her eye. She turned to look at it and gasped.

"Doctor! I thought you said there was no one! Who's that?"

The Doctor turned and frowned harder.

"Who's what?"

"There!"

"There's no one there."

"What! Are you blind?! There!"

The Doctor couldn't see anything, but he knew better than to treat these things lightly.

"Take me to it."

Amy grabbed his arm tightly and lead him across the street, forcing herself not to run. Once on the other side of the street she stopped at a fence that enclosed one of the warehouses and pointed to the corner of one of the buildings.

"What can you see," demanded the Doctor.

"There's a little girl there...she...she...looks like a doll. Doctor....she doesn't look quite right. There's make up all over her face and she's crying. I need to go to her....I need to help her...."

"Wait! I can't see her...why can't I see her..."

"It doesn't matter! Maybe you've got some Time Lord disease thing! I don't care! We need to help her! She's sick!"

"What! You said she was crying before – "

"Oh look! She's so cute and happy! Let's play with –"

"Amy!"

The Doctor grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him, giving her a little shake.

"Stop it!"

Amy struggled in his arms for a few seconds, trying to turn her head back towards the warehouse corner, but finally relaxed.

"Who?...What?...I...."

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. Amy seemed to have snapped out of it. Whatever had been on that corner, it definitely wasn't their friend.

"Come on. Let's go and find someone, maybe they can tell us about the girl."

"The girl.....we need to....what?"

It was the Doctor's turn to grab her by the arm and drag her back to the TARDIS. He let go of her for a moment to close the door of the police box, but then came right back.

"Allon-y..."

He had managed to lead her around the corner and down a promising looking side street when she finally seemed to completely pull together.

"Where to now?" she asked, slowly moving her arm so that the Doctor would released it.

* * *

_Author's Note: This is my first story! Please review._

_Disclaimer: Doctor Who does not belong to me....but I wish it did :D_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"We'll try to find a main road and then....well....something will happen."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Something always happens."

Amy glanced around her. The side ally looked pretty normal to her, there was nothing in it to indicate that they were around 1000 years into her future. A pile of cardboard boxes stood to the side and some kind of bug was scuttling up a mouldy wall. A typical ally, that could be found anywhere, in any kind of city, if one cared to look.

Amy slowed her pace a little and couldn't remember what she had been so worried about before. The little girl didn't seem so important now that she wasn't facing it. It had probably been lost or something. Surely someone would come looking for it.

Up ahead, the Doctor walked on, lost in his own thoughts and completely unaware of Amy now that she wasn't having a mental break down. Amy quickened her pace again, but didn't attempt to catch up with him. She was sure something was wrong now.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" The Doctor mumbled, his eyes skyward.

"Whaaa..?" Amy looked up too and gasped.

They had come to the end of the ally, where the pavement under their feet joined up with an average looking main road. The main road was lined with small glass buildings, all of which had various signs indicating shops like, "_Gary's Jumping Pets! All fun comes with a bounce_" and "_Moods! How will you feel today!_" Amy noticed none of this, because above those buildings, tall glass skyscrapers could be seen.

They were huge, the smallest being twice the size of the Eiffel tower, the biggest being about ten times that size. They were completely made out of glass, or something like glass, except for the outside frame which, even from the distance Amy and the Doctor stood, could be guessed to be made of some sort of wood. On top of the tallest tower little black dots were moving back and forth.

"What are they doing?"

"Building the tower higher."

"Why would it need to be any higher?"

"You know humans, always wanting more, always going higher."

He smiled a little at that.

"If you ask me it's already tall enough!"

The Doctor's smile vanished. He turned to Amy a little disappointed, when he realised Amy was staring at someone else behind them. He turned to look back down the ally, only to see an old lady staring right back at him. She was slightly tanned, wrinkly, and had short black, turning on grey, hair. She was also quite short and held a walking stick in her right hand which, at the moment, she was waving around in their direction. It had been her that had spoken about the tower being already tall.

"Why do you say that?" The Doctor asked, curious at the venom in the woman's voice.

The old lady scrunched up her nose and tilted her eyebrows.

"That tower is bad luck! The old geezer has made it too tall, it will fall on us all and crush us!" The woman voice was very loud and looking around, the Doctor noticed that she had brought in a crowd of on lookers who he hadn't noticed on the street before. It was kind of a relief, seeing all these people. He had been beginning to worry.

The women continued, "What the point of it anyway? Except to brag about his money."

Suddenly the crowd was a fit was noise and the Doctor and Amy were standing right in the middle of it.

"Yeah!"

"Hear! Hear!"

"Who does he think he is?"

"Up there in his fancy tower!"

"While we have to send workers to build what he should build himself!"

"I lost an arm on one of those towers!"

"And what does he give us in return! The pay is terrible.."

"We should be invited to his fancy balls! Not his rich friends!"

An extra loud cheer met this statement. The Doctor leaned into Amy was whispered, "Told you something would happen," before standing back up and raising his voice above the crowd.

"Who is he?"

The old woman who had spoken first took a step forward and spoke.

"His the Leader of course."

"The Leader?"

"Yeah, you know, the King, the Emperor, the President, the Prime Minister, whatever you want to call it. Where have you been? Hiding under a rock? You were complementing it before! Are you on his side! Do you not know what he has made us poor people do?"

"Yes, well, we're not from around here. Could you please tell me?"

The woman's face suddenly went sad. The rest of the crowd was silent. It seemed the old lady was their spokesperson.

"There isn't much to say. He came out of nowhere. No one knows who he is, he just suddenly took charge. Ever since then he has forced us to work on his towers. It's compulsory. You won't get out of it. His got friends in high places."

"What do you mean?" Amy spoke up, "He's the king, how can you get any higher than that....."

Amy voice mumbled off as a large rumbling sound filled the air. Everyone suddenly looked up, so the Doctor and Amy looked up too.

* * *

_Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait._

_Disclaimer: Doctor Who does not belong to me_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

It came quickly and out of no where, filling the still blue sky with it's giant, green, bulky underbelly. A spaceship. Amy was sure of it. It was like one of those rockets she had seen on the news, only flatter and much, much bigger.

"Wow," she whispered.

"Definitely Wow worthy," she heard the Doctor whisper next to her, "By the sound of that engine it is anyway."

"Oh, so that giant bulky machine up there isn't enough for it to be Wow worthy?"

The Doctor looked at her, confused.

"What big machine?"

Amy opened her mouth to say something, but just ending up gaping. First the girl and now this! After a minute breather, she grabbed the Doctor by the shoulder and pointed directly at the ship.

"Please tell me you can see that."

The Doctor just shook his head.

The people around them were starting to wonder off now, as if the giant spaceship had brought them back to reality and they suddenly realised they shouldn't be here. After a couple a minutes there was only one person left. The old woman stepped up to them, gazing at the Doctor, who was still staring at the spot Amy had pointed at, before turning to Amy.

"It's a supply carrier, the biggest in the world. It's taking materials to the tower," she said in a blunt voice. The Doctor turned, his eyes widened.

"But this doesn't make any sense. That engine is very advanced, way to advanced for this time. Why can't I see it? Unless it's some sort of trick, like a smaller engine in a bigger body and added noise, but that still doesn't explain why I can't see it. And then there was that girl too. It's like some sort of parallel world, only not. It's like..like a some sort of time crash. But why can't I see it?" he rounded on the old lady, making odd movements with his hands. "What's your name?"

"Gluria."

"Gluria? That's a pretty odd....never mind. Gluria, when exactly did this King person come?"

"Umm...about 50 years ago."

"And these ships, did they come at the same time?"

"Yes."

"And what about the little girls?"

"What girls?"

"Never mind."

The Doctor looked back at the sky. Amy looked up too and saw that while they had been talking the spaceship had moved on, becoming a pinpoint in the horizon next to the tower. The Doctor looked back at Amy.

"I think we need to get closer to that tower."

Amy smiled.

"I couldn't agree more."

Gluria looked between them, her eyes suddenly narrowing.

"Who exactly are you?"

Neither of them heard her, they were both already striding ahead and across the street, the old lady already forgotten.

* * *

As Gluria watched them leave she sighed a little. She was getting old and knew that she probably wouldn't live to see the end of the King, but for some reason, those two had given her hope. It meant that, at last, someone was asking questions. Someone was trying to stop this madness.

She let a small smile pass across her face.

"Please help us."

The smile vanished and the old lady turned around. There, standing behind her, was a little girl. She had shoulder-length, shiny black hair and two big, brown eyes that seemed to shine from within. Her heart shaped face was smothered in make-up and she was wearing a red dress, making her look like some miss ordered ghost. Despite the girl's looks, Gluria smiled down at her.

"Are you lost?"

Suddenly two big black smudges appeared under the girls eyes, as if the girl had been crying and her make-up had ran.

"What the..." Gluria murmured, suddenly afraid.

The girl simply smiled.

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and briefly adjusted it, before turning it onto the solid glass door. Behind him, Amy watched as the little green light on the screwdriver lit up and started to moving up and down the door by aid of the Doctor's hand.

"No visible lock," the Doctor murmured, frowning in concentration, "but if I turn this and then– Ah HA." He quickly put the screwdriver on the floor before using the palm of his hand to tap the door lightly. Amy leaned forward and gave a surprised jump as the door suddenly clicked and sprung open of it's own accord.

"How did you do that?" She asked the Doctor, grabbing the door cautiously and glancing into the glass passageway behind it.

"Pretty basic human technology, all it needed was a little push." The Doctor answered, picking up his screwdriver and putting it back into his coat.

They were standing at the base of one of the glass towers. Above them, but only visible to Amy, was the large supply carrier, which was now unloading some sort of material. It had been pretty easy getting in. The guards had been lazy and a quick glance of psychic paper had gotten them though most of it.

"OK, Let's go," the Doctor grinned. Amy nodded and together they headed down the glass corridor. She had been worried about the walls, but it turned out that they were way too thick to see through. They continued down the corridor until they got to the next door, which wasn't locked. The Doctor paused briefly, before opening the door a crack.

"What is it?" Amy whispered in case there was someone on the other side.

Turned out that there was.

"Good evening gentlemen. Or should I say gentle birds?" The Doctor had suddenly risen to his full height and had opened the door a little wider, just wide enough to fit his face but keep Amy out of sight. Amy, quick on her feet, quickly rose too and pushed herself against the wall. She couldn't see anything through the too thick glass door, but she heard something answer the Doctor in a series of loud screeches. It obviously wasn't human.

"Oh I see," the Doctor murmured to whatever was on the other side, while he made some hurried hand movements to Amy, trying to get her to go back down the corridor a bit more. Amy ignored them and put her head against the door. She heard the creature reply again and some weird scraping noises.

Then there were some other noises. More creatures. The Doctor's hand movements got more hurried.

"Well, I don't really want to impose–" the Doctor's voice was suddenly cut off as he was dragged through the doorway and the glass door slammed shut behind him. It happened so quickly Amy didn't have time to think, but she swore that in the movement she saw a bunch of feathers and something flying though the air. But now everything was still. All she knew was that she was suddenly in the corridor by herself and she couldn't hear anything on the other side of the door any more.

Coming to her senses she immediately tried the door handle. Locked. She frowned and then sprinted down to the first door at the other side of the corridor. It had closed behind them. Locked too.

She was trapped.

By herself.

"Great."

* * *

Yuni Cho did not like his job. It was boring and the payment was too low. He had often wondered about getting a new one. Maybe he could work as a pilot or own a shop. You know, something at least a little bit exciting. But he knew he wasn't going anywhere. Once in the King's service, always in the King's service. Anyway, being a guard around one of the towers was better than working on it.

He sighed and sat down on his stool behind the check in counter. Maybe he didn't have to wait get something nice and cold to drink from the staff fridge when his shift was over. Maybe he could get it now? Not many people came through his drive in check point. It was the last before the tower itself and most of the staff parked outside. In fact, he had only had two people come through today. A man and woman. Both pretty young looking. He remembered the man looking a bit weird. There had been a mix up with their papers and they only had a card, but it had very high clearance so he had let them through anyway. What had their names been? The girl's name had been something like Alice, or maybe Alma, and the man had been a Doctor. Doctor Who? He couldn't remember.

Anyway, it had been a quiet day and it was near the end of his shift. He smiled. Yes, he would get that drink now. Stuff the consequences if he was caught.

He hopped out of his chair and was about to make a dash into the back room and down to the staff room when something red caught his eye. He turned to see a little girl in a ruby dress and wearing make up staring up to him.

"Yes?" he snapped a bit rudely, "What do you want?"

Two dark smudges appeared under the girl's eyes.

"Please help us."

* * *

_Author's note: I'm really starting to enjoy writing this :D_

_Disclaimer: Ok, this goes for the whole story and any other chapters I add. I do not own Doctor Who_


End file.
